Corporate finance
In addition to valuing entire companies, there are also a variety of cases in which only one single asset, or either several or the entirety of the same type of assets, have to be valued. This predominantly relates to intangible assets.
Because it is prohibited to capitalise self-produced intangible assets under tax law and also largely under commercial law, there is no balance sheet approach here. This means that if a company has such assets, these must be included under hidden reserves.
When drawing up a liquidation balance (there is no capitalisation prohibition here) or to estimate lending potential, the question of the value of these hidden reserves can come up.
Another reason for valuing these assets could be transferring patents, know-how and technology, brand rights or customer relationships etc. to another company. This valuation then sets the transfer/purchase price and consequently also indirectly the accounting for this transaction on both sides.
